A youth has been acquitted of the charges of kidnapping and raping a minor after enticing her to marry him by a Delhi court, which said he was not on the wrong side of the law and the girl had voluntarily gone with him.
Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Yadav freed the youth, saying the element of "taking away or enticement was found to be lacking" and it appeared that the girl was a willing and consenting party and "everything had happened with her own sweet will".
"In these circumstances, the factum of kidnapping of prosecutrix does not stand proved. If the law laid down...Is applied to the facts of the present case, then it would be absolutely clear that the accused is not on the wrong side of law in the matter," the court said.
It noted that both the youth and the girl are now happily married and are parents of a girl.
The court said as per the ossification test, the girl was found to be between 17-18 years of age and at the time of incident, she had, "presumably attained sufficient maturity to decide about her future".
During the trial, the girl in her statement before the court said that she had voluntarily gone with the accused and was now happily married with him.
She said her family members were against her relationship with the accused and thus lodged a false complaint against him with the police.
The court, while acquitting the Delhi resident of the charges of 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping with intent to force a woman for marriage or to establish illicit relation) and 376 (rape) of the IPC, said the prosecution has failed to establish the charges against the youth.
According to the prosecution, an FIR was lodged against the accused on July 8, 2013, on the complaint of victim's father that she has been kidnapped and enticed by the him.
During the trial, the accused pleaded innocence and claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case by the father of the girl. He also said that he and the girl were major at the time of incident.
